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Appeared on: Thursday, October 21, 2010
Nokia Refines Development Strategy to Unify Environments for Symbian and MeeGo

Nokia announced a business reconstruction plan which includes focus on Qt framework, the support for HTML5 through the Symbian mobile operating system as well as chenges in the company's service business.

Nokia believes that decision to focus on Qt as the sole application development framework will ensure that applications will continue to be compatible with future evolutions of Symbian as well as upcoming MeeGo products. In addition, Nokia announced its intent to support HTML5 for development of Web content and applications for both Symbian and MeeGo platforms. Nokia will also develop its own future applications using Qt for a more consistent experience and better integration of applications and services.

Nokia is focusing on Qt as a robust, tried and tested framework that unlocks the hardware, software and service capabilities of the existing Nokia smartphone range as well as creating huge opportunities for future Symbian and MeeGo products. Nokia's introduction of Qt Quick into the Qt framework enables the more rapid creation of rich user interfaces and the most visually engaging applications. In addition, Qt's in-built support for HTML5 complements Nokia's intent to support HTML5 in Web browsers.

One benefit of this simplified approach is that planned and future improvements in Symbian will be developed in Qt and will be compatible with the existing Symbian^3 platform release. The resulting change to a model of continuous evolution replaces the previous release-based model. Nokia added that it would no longer refer to Symbian^3 or Symbian^4.

Rich Green, CTO of Nokia: "We're making strategic technology decisions that will accelerate our ability to offer the strongest possible opportunity for developers and the richest possible experience for consumers. For developers, it will open up a huge installed customer base for their applications. For consumers, it means a more compelling engagement with their Nokia product in terms of access to the best applications in the marketplace and a constantly improving product experience. We firmly believe that the choices we have made will not only mean significant opportunity and success for our developer partners, but for Nokia as well."

Today's announcement is part of Nokia's efforts to compete with other heavyweights in the mobile phone market, such as Apple and Blackberry.

The company has today communicated to its employees the company's plans to accelerate its transformation plan and increase effectiveness. The plans include simplifying operations in product creation in Nokia's Symbian Smartphones organization, as well as Nokia's Services organization and certain corporate functions. The plans are expected to result in a reduction of up to 1800 employees globally.

Instead of distinct end-to-end service lines, Nokia's Services organization will be focused on delivering an integrated Ovi experience across our full range of devices. In addition to simplifying its ways of working, the aim is to provide more compelling Ovi services to consumers.

Altogether, the planned changes are expected to result in a reduction of up to 1800 employees globally, as activities are planned to be discontinued and integrated, Nokia said. The company will begin applicable consultations with employee representatives about these plans.